


Aerophobia

by AHeartForStories



Series: AHeartForStories' Comfortember 2020 [4]
Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Comfortember 2020, Fear, Fear of Flying, Gen, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III Whump, Hiccup Whump, Hurt Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, Whump, aerophobia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-04
Updated: 2020-11-04
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:29:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27390487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AHeartForStories/pseuds/AHeartForStories
Summary: Written for Comfortember Day 4. Set after Httyd 2. Hiccup never thought he would ever be afraid to fly. Today, that is a fear he has to conquer.
Relationships: Astrid & Fishlegs & Hiccup & Ruffnut & Snotlout & Tuffnut, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III & Toothless, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III/Astrid Hofferson
Series: AHeartForStories' Comfortember 2020 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1996150
Comments: 11
Kudos: 45
Collections: Comfortember 2020





	Aerophobia

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Comfortember prompt: Anxiety
> 
> This was an interesting one to work on, mainly because you wouldn't expect Hiccup, of all people, to ever be afraid of flying.
> 
> Constructive criticism is appreciated!  
> Enjoy!

Hiccup has to take a deep, deep breath to calm his racing heart. The saddle creaking beneath him, the feeling of the handles in his hands, his dragon's powerful muscles moving, and the deep guttural sounds in his throat. He never thought any of these things would ever make him feel as nervous as they do now, but here he is.

"Are you okay, Hiccup? You know this can wait, right?" Hiccup looks towards Astrid as she sits on top of her own dragon when she talks to him. She and Stormfly are waiting for him and Toothless to take off.

Toothless gazes at his Rider from over his shoulder, crooning questioningly.

"I'm okay, I'm... I'm about as ready as I'll ever be." Hiccup tells the two of them and Stormfly, too, as her eye nearest to him focuses on him. She has quite bird-like behavior.

"Are you sure? Because you haven't flown in a long time. This is your first time since... Well..." Fishlegs asks as he worries. Not that Hiccup hasn't proven himself as the most veteran dragon rider, but it has been a while. And not only that, but it's what preceded the long period of no flying that plays a factor in Fishlegs' worrying, too.

Hiccup had a crash.

And while Hiccup isn't unfamiliar with crashing, that one had been particularly hard on him. A rogue dragon had ripped him and Toothless from the sky. A fall from that height should've killed him, but it hadn't. What it had was broken damn near every single bone in his body, his back included.

He still remembers waking up in the snow, his friends nowhere to be seen, Toothless nowhere to be seen. In pain and unable to move, he waited for hours in the cold until he was finally found.

By the time they did, night had fallen. And by the time they brought him home, there was some frostbite to treat due to the unbearably freezing temperatures. He hadn't been able to breathe properly either due to his ribs, which had gotten him sick on top of being terribly injured.

It had taken him a long, long time to recover from his injuries and still the hours of lying there, in pain and uncertain, haunt him. At some point early on, they even feared he would never walk again. His recovery has been nothing short of a miracle.

Today will be the first time he takes back to the sky and he's been both looking forward to it as well as dreading it.

Instead of answering Fishlegs' question about whether he's sure or not, Hiccup simply smiles his way. No, he isn't as sure as he would like to be, but what better time to fly than the present?

This past week or so, he's been nervous. Or rather, he's been anxiously awaiting this day to come.

He's been having bad dreams about falling again and again, his years of experience notwithstanding. And even when he's awake, whenever he thinks of the mere act of flying, there's a painful pounding inside his chest, it becomes hard to breathe, and he sweats heavily out of nowhere.

Usually, they come in waves of ten minutes to a full half an hour. Today, it's been present since morning.

Sitting on top of Toothless' back, Hiccup looks up at the sky he once called his home, too. Toothless is still patiently waiting on him to decide when they can take off, he won't do it unless Hiccup wants him, too. If Hiccup ends up deciding that taking back to the sky isn't for today, he will respect that as well.

He, himself, is itching to go, though. He's been grounded for as long as Hiccup has, barely using the automatic tailfin Hiccup told him to use while he recovered, stuck in bed for at least the first few weeks.

But he understands Hiccup's reluctance. If he were a human who survived a fall like that, he would be a little reluctant, too.

Hiccup takes his eyes off the sky and looks at Astrid and Stormfly who stand next to him and Toothless. Then he looks behind them, at the other Dragon Riders. They're all waiting, ready to take off alongside him and complete their group once more.

Having them all here with him just to help him feel safer, it makes him feel better about this.

So Hiccup turns his attention back to the cliff they're all standing on, one outside of the village.

There is no time like the present.

"Come on, Bud." His anxiety is still choking the life out of him, but he forces those words off his tongue. Toothless sinks to the ground, wings prepare for take-off, and his strong legs push him off towards the sky. The air catches his wings and they're off.

"Yeah, woo!" Snotlout can be heard behind him, his voice quickly cut off because of the wind in his ears.

Hiccup doesn't look behind him, instead focusing on keeping a tight grip on the handle and the quickly approaching clouds high above;

Toothless isn't planning on getting too high, just high enough that his Rider gets to feel that he's definitely back in the air again.

Once they reach the desired height, Toothless levels out and Hiccup allows himself to breathe. His heart is pounding in his throat, blood rushing to his ears, they're all things he hasn't felt since the first time he and Toothless flew together.

"Okay, we're up in the air." Hiccup wants to pet his Bud, but doesn't dare let go of the saddle.

"You doing okay?" Astrid asks as Stormfly levels off next to them. The other Dragon Riders are right behind them.

"Yeah! I mean, I definitely feel like my heart might actually give out on me, but yeah, I feel great!" Hiccup replies, his nervousness oozing out of every spoken word. Astrid smiles at him, seeing the stiff and not at all relaxed pose as he holds onto the handles of his saddle with a death grip.

"Just remember what you told us during our first lessons!" Barf and Belch come flying overhead, rolling through the sky. It's Tuffnut who talks to him.

"Just relax and let the dragon and the wind guide you!" Ruffnut reminds him, thoroughly enjoying the freezing winds of Berk for emphasis.

Hiccup chuckles breathily and watches them disappear from sight.

But she's right. He just needs to relax and then maybe this constricting sensation inside his chest will ease up on him. Maybe.

Toothless has a slightly more direct approach.

He roars and that's about the only warning Hiccup gets before he climbs higher with a plan in mind. That one warning is enough for his Rider, who's grip on the saddle grows with apprehension.

"Uh, what's Toothless doing?" Snotlout asks as the Night Fury leaves them all behind.

"Hopefully something that won't massively backfire," Astrid says with the beginnings of a scowl. She trusts Toothless, but the deal was that they would take this slow to avoid stressing Hiccup out as he transitions back from a life on the ground to one in the air.

His fear of experiencing another fall like the one that had grounded him for months was palpable to them all the past week.

Though he'd promised himself not to look down on his first flight, Hiccup looks back at his friends as they become smaller and smaller until they are mere dots in the distance.

"Are you sure about this, Bud? Toothless?" Hiccup has to shout in order to be heard and his dragon roars back affirmingly. To him, this is the best possible plan.

Hiccup can feel that his heart is ready to burst out of his chest and can't look at the height anymore, instead choosing to stare at his saddle, which he lies flat against to reduce the drag.

He closes his eyes, consciously breathing in and out to keep himself calm as he feels Toothless take him higher and higher. He can feel the rapid change in pressure.

And then he stops and Hiccup has felt the familiar feeling of passing through a cloud, his hair and face now coated in a thin layer of water droplets.

Toothless croons loudly and Hiccup opens his eyes, finding the two of them above the clouds stained with orange and yellow from the setting sun.

Hiccup holds his breath, but not because he's anxious. The breathtaking beauty of the sky has enraptured him once again and he realizes how much he has missed these views.

"And now down, Bud?" Hiccup asks with a tone that sounds a little more filled with hope than dread.

Upon hearing this, Toothless, filled with determination to correct a wrong, turns his nose down and dives. Wings folding, body straight, he dives as fast as he can and Hiccup is merely there for the ride.

Though his chest is ready to burst open from the pressure inside, Hiccup can't say it's from fear or the anxiety that's kept him hostage for the past week.

They break through the cloud barrier and the vast ocean comes closer and closer. Night Furies are fast and that means the grey body of water is coming even faster than with any other species of dragons.

Still, despite the speed and his fear, Hiccup lets go of the saddle with one hand and lets the wind guide him, exactly like Ruffnut told him to.

A rush is pumped through his veins, elevating him to a high nothing else can. Before long, a cautious grin presents itself on Hiccup's face in preparation for what's to come.

Once they get close enough to the ocean, Toothless begins to roll and roll, forcing Hiccup to flatten himself against the saddle or risk being thrown off by the sheer force of the wind.

Toothless unfolds his wings and brings them higher again, giving Hiccup a slight break before he makes a loop. The blood rushing to the human's head as he's thrown and dragged along. It's rough, it's wild, and it's soaring Hiccup's heart higher and higher into the sky.

Toothless isn't going easy on him and that he can hold on and predict every next move is a testament to Hiccup's skill as the most experienced of the Riders.

"WHOO, YEAH!" His voice rings out loud in the sky, reaching the Dragon Riders who they'd left behind as Toothless takes his human on a precarious mission to restore his love for the sky.

They watch and see Toothless' direct approach pay off, happy to hear those cheers of joy.

After taking his Rider on a wild ride, Toothless levels out again, panting from the exertion. Hiccup lets go of the handles to straighten in his seat, hands on his lap. He has to get the last of his rush out with laughter.

"Ah, that was great. I've missed this, Bud. I've missed us." Hiccup pets the Night Fury on the head, the affectionate gesture turning into a scratch behind his ear at the end.

Toothless rumbles happily, briefly shaking his body.

Hiccup smiles and gazes at their surroundings, at the ocean below, and the village in the distance. He can see people watching them from the edge.

"I guess we're not the only ones glad to see us back in the air again, hug, Bud?" He asks.

"No, you're definitely not," Astrid replies as Stormfly catches up. All the Dragon Riders do.

"That was quite a show, Haddock!" Ruffnut commends him.

"Yeah, really happy to have you back." Snotlout admits and Fishlegs and Tuffnut share this sentiment with him.

A grounded Hiccup just hasn't been the same as the Dragon Rider they all know and love. Now here he is again, the weight of his fear lifted by his love of the sky.

"You know, I don't think Berk expects me back for the next few hours. How about some tricks? A race?" Hiccup suggests and how can the Dragon Riders possibly refuse?

"Race!" The vote is unanimous and the decision has been made.

"A race it is!" Hiccup says and off they go.


End file.
